Water Damages Historic XTO Building In Fort Worth
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FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - Large pumps hummed outside of the XTO building on the east end of The Stockyards Thursday as they pumped air through giant tubes into the historic building in an effort to dry out parts of the building damaged by water overnight.
"Yeah, it's just sad," said Gary Brinkley with Stockyards Station, which sits down the hill from the damaged building. "She's a beautiful old lady we love so much, y'know?"
Firefighters said lightning hit the top of the historic building built by Swift meat packing company in 1902. The small fires didn't do much damage, but two fire sprinklers that poured 50 gallons of water a minute into the building -- did.
The large pumps shot air into the Swift building in to dry out the ceilings and hardwood floors on all three stories. The iconic building saw the rise, fall and resurrection of the stockyards.
"Its seen its share of history, right?" Brinkley said. "It saw World War I, World War II, Vietnam. We were supplying meat to the boys overseas. So, a lot of stuff going on. She it rode all the way up and all the way back down."
A generation of people know the building as the former home of Spaghetti Warehouse. XTO bought the building about 10 years ago when it was in need of extensive repair. "XTO completely changed that," Brinkley said. "They brought in all the right wood and finished it out for corporate conference rooms and meeting rooms. And it is just spectacular."
That restoration also built confidence in Stockyards residents that XTO will once again restore this cornerstone of Fort Worth history. "They're the kind of people who will fix it," Brinkley said. "You know, I've got faith in them. I'm not worried about them. On the one hand it's sad that it happened. But on the other hand, she's been through all that stuff that we talked about. She'll be fine!"
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